Knicks vs. Lakers: Remembering the 1970 NBA Finals

They faced a Lakers super team composed of Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor in the NBA Finals that finished second in the Western Division with a 46-36 record. That seven-game series was the most poignant in Knicks history, until this past week, and the culmination of their franchise record 60-22 first-place season.

Tied at two games apiece, the back-and-forth series returned to Madison Square Garden for the pivotal Game 5 on May 4, 1970. In the opening quarter, Reed drove to the basket, was tripped and went down writhing in pain. He’d torn his right thigh muscle and was done for the night.

Long before the Knicks’ stunning and record 29-point comeback win against the Spurs in Game 4 this past Wednesday night, the Knicks trailed by 16 points in the third quarter and eight heading into the fourth. Holtzman relied on DeBusschere and Stallworth to defend the 7-1 Chamberlain and the Knicks came back to win, 107-100, a 23-point turnaround.

The victory-starved fans in the fourth version of the Garden, having opened in 1968, rocked the building to its foundation, much like the other night. That was a different NBA era, though. The 16-point comeback might as well have been 29. There were no three-point baskets in those days, so the 1970 comeback was fashioned with an array of two-point jumpers, dunks and layups. This was much tougher in the old-fashioned NBA, which then comprised only 14 teams as opposed to 30 teams now.

The 6-10 Reed didn’t play in Game 6 and his backup, Nate Bowman, was overmatched by Chamberlain, who tallied 45 points and 27 rebounds in a 135-113 blowout at Los Angeles that sent the series back to the Garden for the climatic Game 7.

How good was the prodigious Chamberlain? He averaged 30 points and 23 rebounds a game in his 14-year career and still holds the record with 100 points in a single game. Could the Knicks defeat the Lakers, without Reed, a building block of the franchise as the 10th overall pick out of Grambling in the 1964 draft and a five-time NBA All-Star?

Both teams had their ghosts top contend with. The Lakers hadn’t won an NBA championship since moving west from Minneapolis in 1960, having lost six times in the Finals to the Celtics. The Knicks, one of the founding NBA clubs in 1947 and one of two to remain in their original cities since then – the Celtics are the other one – had won division titles in 1953 and 1954, but didn’t get to the Finals until 1970.

Reed’s Game 7 Appearance Made the Difference

There was a day between Games and 6 and 7, and all the drama and speculation was about whether Reed would be able to suit up for the finale in New York. Considering the seriousness of the injury, he probably wouldn’t have been allowed by team medical staff and the league to play today.

As game-time approached, the tension and murmur of the sell-out crowd reached its crescendo.

“At 7:34 p.m. Reed limped onto the court,” NBA.com reported in a file story. “The crowd went wild, and his teammates’ confidence returned with a vengeance. Reed somehow managed to outjump Chamberlain on the opening tip, then scored the game’s first basket on a shot from the top of the key. He then scored the second New York basket from 20 feet out.”

Reed went to the bench and wouldn’t score another point in the game. He didn’t have to, although he did play 22 minutes. Inspired by Reed’s heroism, the team’s All-Star point guard “Clyde” Frazier took control of the game, dropping in 36 points – remember, no three-pointers – on 12-for-17 shooting with 19 assists, a double-double before that term had been coined. The Knicks ran away with the game, winning 113-99.

Frazier’s performance presaged Jalen Brunson’s recent 45-point, Game 5 effort on 14-for-27 shooting, 4-for-7 beyond the three-point stripe, by almost six decades and prompted Bradley to wax eloquent after the Knicks’ latest stunning comeback.

New York used the second overall pick in the 1965 draft to claim Bradley, who starred at Princeton, despite the club knowing full well he was heading to the University of Oxford in England first to continue his education. Bradley didn’t join the Knicks until Dec. 9, 1967, for a game at the old Garden between 49th and 50th Streets on Eighth Avenue.

The aging arena was packed, which was rare for a Knicks game at that time. But in hindsight it was the official start of that championship era, consummated 16 blocks to the south in the “new” Garden only three years later.

“You never forget this moment,” Bradley also posted Saturday. “Congratulations, you’re forever champions!

“Playing beautiful basketball… you gotta belieeeeve!”

Bless all those guys who weren’t around to see it. May their memory be a blessing.